Media briefing: Day Zero projections and Augmentation
(Camera scrum at the briefing 1 March 2018)
Media update by :
Deputy Mayor Ian Nielsen and Cape Town City Water Management Team.
Intention of the meeting was to provide a full update on “Day Zero”as well as the status of various augmentation initiatives.
Key take-away. City is grateful for the very apparent efforts being made by so many residents to reduce water usage. There is still some way to go, but if everyone reduces to the target of 50L/p/d then it should be possible to get deep into winter with the existing water stored in the dams. The possible “Day Zero” date remains 9th July and will no longer be changed. Augmentation efforts will hopefully be producing 130ML/d extra water by end-June 2018.
Key points from Deputy Mayor Nielsen’s statement.
1) “Day Zero” simply denotes that point where levels of the main dams will have dropped to the point that requires implementation of stage-2 of the City’s disaster plan, i.e. level-7 restrictions whereunder water flow to the household taps will be stopped and residents will have to collect water rations of 25L/p/d. It is not, as sometimes thought, that point where the dams run completely dry. At the moment the City is nominally aiming at triggering “Day Zero” when the combined level of the dams = 13.5% or about 120 M.cuM of water.
2) The primary aim is to manage the system so as to not fail, i.e. to avoid invoking “Day Zero”.
3) When level-4 restrictions were implemented mid-2017 water consumption dropped to 600 ML/d, an almost 50% reduction from the unlimited heights. The City recognises and is immensely grateful to all residents who have done so much to reduce use of water. It is that wonderful response that has enabled the City to survive so far and for the management team to aim for a successful outcome.
4) After winter the parties met to assess available water and new allocations were decided in Nov 2017 and promulgated by DWS. The metro and other municipalities were called on to cut water consumption by 45% and agriculture by 60% for the Nov2018 – Oct2019 hydrological year. This means City must consume less than 175 McuM, which equates to 489 ML/d. Accordingly level-6B restrictions, including max 50L/p/d, were imposed from 1st Feb 2018. At the same time severe pressure reduction management was implemented to reduce water flows while a new set of steeper tariffs came into effect. As a result the fresh water consumption in the City has dropped to 520 ML/d.
5) The estimated “Day Zero”date has settled at 9th July, mid-winter, and will be left there. If the residents of the city continue to save hard and get down on average to the 50L/p/d then one may be optimistic that the City’s water supplies will last through to onset of the rainy season. As the rains set in the level of the dams will start to change and new scenarios will be developed for the situation that will prevail after winter. Although circumstances may then become more favourable, it is necessary to consider the water requirement to see us though the following dry summer to winter 2019.
6) A principal concern is that if winter rains in 2018 are again weak, then the danger will arise that “Day Zero” will need to be implemented during summer 2018/2019. Accordingly level-6B restrictions are expected to remain in place for a sustained period yet. But by saving water hard, residents are avoiding the probability of having to queue and collect rations of just 25L/p/d.
City of Cape Town Water Team: (r to l) (P. Flower, Dr G. Kaiser, R. Basson, Dep mayor I. Nielsen, X.Limburg, Alderman JP. Smith)
Dep. Mayor Ian Nielsen then briefed on status of augmentation initiatives:
Groundwater:
- Atlantis; fully serving the community (no longer draw from dams) 12ML/d to 20ML/d by Oct18.
- Cape Flats; boreholes being drilled, anticipate 80+ML/d by June.
- TMG aquifer; boreholes being drilled, anticipate 50 ML/d by July.
Desalination:
- Standfontein; 2 ML/d by end-March, increasing to 7 ML/d by May.
- Monwabisi; 2 ML/d by end-April, increasing to 7 ML/d by end-May.
- V&A; 2 ML/d by end-March.
Springs off Table Mountain: yielding some 4 ML/d already.
Water re-use; Zandvliet water treatment plant will produce 10 ML/d by end-June.
Groenland Water Users transfer. 4 McuM have reached Steenbras, 6 M.cuM still on route.
The Dep. Mayor made the point that funding for all these efforts have come in the form of re-purposed City budgets, so there is no funding risk. However, a municipal budget is not designed to fund large capital projects which really should come out of tax revenues from central government. For now, the need for funding such augmentation is postponing other important maintenance work.
The only augmentation project being pursued by DWS is the Voelvlei Dam scheme whereby surplus rain water in the Berg River will be pumped up and stored in the Voelvlei Dam instead of letting this run through to the sea. This long-planned project has been accelerated and should commence contributions by winter 2021.
Alderman Smith advised that the number of planned Points of Distribution (PODs) have been increased to 235 (up from 200) locations, sufficient density that no resident should be more than 1.5km away from the nearest POD. Locations will be announced only once it is clear that level-7 collection/rationing restrictions will be implemented.
Smith pronounced his disappointment that the defence force plans to only make a small number of soldiers available – up to max. 7 per police station cluster – a total of only 200 men instead of the 1400 initially planned. This could cause a marked increase cost of security to the City.
In response to questions Dep. Mayor Nielsen said that the City has definite concerns regarding the apparent implosion of DWS. Given the extent of the water shortages threatening the whole country, DWS will needs increased funding and manpower to re-capacitate itself.
Tom Brown. 1 March 2017.